.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Plenty of storylines in Pens-Sens matchup (Nov 16, 2017)
OTTAWA -- There will be storylines aplenty when the Ottawa Senators return home Thursday night for their first game since playing a pair last week in Sweden.
They are expected to get two key players back in winger Bobby Ryan, whose been sidelined since Oct. 21 with a broken finger, and defenseman Mark Borowiecki, whose been out with a "personal health" issue since Oct. 27.
The game will be the first at Canadian Tire Centre for center Matt Duchene, who was acquired in a mega-trade on Nov. 2 and played in the two 4-3 victories over his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in Stockholm.
And providing the opposition will be the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who will be facing the Senators for the first time since knocking them out of the Eastern Conference final in double overtime of Game 7 last May.
"They are the team that we were one goal away from beating, for one, and they ended our season," said Ryan. "Then they went on to win (the Stanley Cup). You look at all that stuff and it's frustrating. There will be some added incentives for guys, absolutely. Mentally, you're going to see the jersey and it's going to come back to you."
The Penguins (10-7-3) are coming off a 5-4 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday that saw captain Sidney Crosby score for the first time in 12 games and set up winger Conor Sheary for the winner.
"You're happy to see it go in," Crosby, who now has six on the season, said of his slump-buster, adding that he has been getting the chances. "I think as long as they're there, hopefully they'll start going in a little more."
An area of concern for Pittsburgh lies with the defensive game. The Penguins have been scored on four times in each of their last three outings and their 72 goals against is most in the Eastern Conference and second only to the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL.
"We have to force teams to have to work extremely hard to get those high-quality type chances," coach Mike Sullivan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday. "It can't be because we have a lack of focus or discipline or concentration, where we become easier to play against because we don't manage the puck the right way or we don't stay on the right side of a puck battle or we don't change as smart."
Leading the attack for the Senators (8-3-5) is winger Mark Stone, who has 13 points in his last nine games. With Stone and center Derick Brassard finding chemistry together, head coach Guy Boucher wants to see if he can form "another first line" by having Ryan play with Duchene.
The two have known each other for a decade, when they skated together at a camp in Anaheim run by Duchene's uncle Newell Brown, who was an assistant coach of the Ducks at the time.
"The top teams, on paper, they're lethal for two reasons," said Boucher. "They have high end lines, it's a 1-2 punch, where you actually look at the board and it's just like Pittsburgh. You sit down and you look and say, 'okay, it's (Sidney) Crosby on one line and (Evgeni) Malkin and (Phil) Kessel on the other.' I mean, which one am I going to match? You don't know. That's what those high-end teams have. And the rest is the quality depth that they have."
Boucher confirmed Craig Anderson will start in goal on Thursday, while Matt Murray is expected to get the call in net for the Penguins.
